After Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporation, Sarathi now launched by IGR’s office

After the success of Sarathi in Pimpri-Chinchwad, during his tenure as municipal commissioner, Shrikar Pardeshi, who now heads the State Inspectorate General of Registration and Stamps Department, is replicating the Sarathi project for the entire state. The project was started on August 15 by the IGR’s office .

“Arming citizens with better facilities, through Sarathi and Citizen’s Charter, will enable a transparent system,” said Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who inaugurated the two new initiatives by the Inspectorate General of Registration and Stamps department, on Independence Day.

Pawar lauded the initiatives by stating that it would give a new sense of direction to the department as well as enable citizens to get better facilities from them.

The system — Stamp and Registration Assistance Through Helpline Information — which was a runaway success at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, will be replicated in the department. The initiative, inaugurated at the new Zilla Parishad building by Ajit Pawar, saw the presence of Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, IGR chief Shrikar Pardeshi, Divisional Commissioner Vikas Deshmukh, Settlement Commissioner Chandrakant Dalvi, Educational Commissioner S Chockolingam, District Collector Saurabh Rao and Pune Mayor Chanchala Kodre.

Pawar, after inaugurating the initiative, said that the work of launching these services were on for the last three years. The department, which gives maximum revenue to the state kitty, should also be able to reach out to citizens in a friendly manner and such initiatives would bring transparency, he said. Thorat added that it would help citizens as well as the department to function better and ensure that services are provided without malpractices.

Sarathi, a helpline service, along with a booklet available in pdf format, enables citizens to understand all the services provided by the department, while the citizen’s charter ensures that citizens understand all their rights and do not fall for middlemen or touts.
Citizens can log on to http://www.igrmaharashtra.gov.in to access both.

Recently, the department had also initiated action against errant employees, who were found to be indulging in malpractices. While some of them were suspended, the others were shifted to non-executive posts. Pardeshi, IGR, said that these two initiatives would help bring transparency in delivering services and citizens can access and understand the services better and even report to the department, if there is an issue.